Rangeland Restoration Strategies (Case Study: Songun Copper Mine)

As an integral part of the whole rangeland planning and managing, mine reclamation should beconsidered from the very beginning of process of mining operations. In this way, not only the environment isprotected but also the damaged or affected rangelands are returned to the production cycle. Therefore, properattention should be paid when identifying the problems and consequent pollution issues. If based on EcologicalRestoration principles, zonation of a range helps make environmental assessment and monitoring moreoperational and realistic. Applying a proper analytical method helps identify those sections in a range that areat risk of environmental damage; this method can also expedite the planning process of turning the vulnerableareas into environmentally dynamic and thriving ones. Known as a new branch of environmental assessment,Environmental Vulnerability Assessment is an increasingly advanced method that includes vulnerabilityanalysis and is used here to obtain the operational objectives of the present research. In this scrutiny, theSungun Copper Mine in Varzaghan was selected as the case study. This study also made use of remote sensingsoftware ENVI 5.3 as well as GIS software in order to determine the Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI)and to prepare a final map with spatial distribution info. Initial data included the Digital elevation model(DEM) and images provided by Landsat 8 satellite. Land use and vegetation density maps were created basedon Landsat 8 OLI scenes. The final results show a high correlation between the environmental vulnerabilityand the elevation and gradient of the range; that means, ranges with higher elevation and steeper gradient arecharacterized with a higher degree of vulnerability and require more protection.

Rangeland Restoration Strategies (Case Study: Songun Copper Mine) Keywords:

Rangeland Managing , Mine Reclamation , Vulnerability Assessment , Remote Sensing